Great point! What the singer means is that they think they can sing along with this version. Perhaps it's in a key that suits them, or the arrangement of the vocals works for them, or maybe they don't even know the original.

So whatever you do will be fine as long as it works with them singing it that way. She may even go, "wow, that keyboard part is great" when you play the organ part, and think that you came up with it. If that happens, shut up and smile, and let her think you are this crazy great keyboard player.

Ouch! When I start making a list of all the bad covers I've seen/heard on YouTube, it will take a very, very long time before my list gets to either Annie Lennox or Sam Tsui.

Larry.

Exactly.

Agreed. Both are great. I was just imagining Moonglow being asked to pull out his "Vocal Planet" sample set to play the "Dah/Doh" part. Actually, I'd pay 3 bucks to see that.

Dammit!!! I'm sending you the bill for cleaning the soda off my computer keyboard!!. LOL

Bill,,

That group was simply named HSAS, for Sammy Haggar, Neal Schon, Kenny Aaronson, and Michael Shrieve.

I saw them do this song live too in San Francisco and I thought it rocked.
While I love the original, love playing it, and it is classic, I thought Neal and Sammy did a great job on it.

Neal really pays homage to the signature organ hooks and parts.

Here's a vid of it:

HSAS: WSOP

"HSAS, for Sammy Haggar, Neal Schon, Kenny Aaronson, and Michael Shrieve."

Thanks for that. I'm usually not a fan of 'swinging dick' events, but that was a great show.

You know, I actually sorted of liked that version until about 1:30. Then, all of a sudden, I just f'ing hated it. Don't know if it got better, I decided not to waste the remaining 3 min...

--Dave

1. "Don't mess with the classics".
I totally agree. Do the original organ parts. I think the statement about the singer just wants to sing the song as she heard it on that version is a great point. Just remind her that "singers sing and musicians play".

2. "Don't play stuff you hate just because the audience may want it". A great rule of thumb, but over the years I've had to bend this rule. I keep a barf bag close at hand just in case.

3. "NEVER EVER EVER play the Celine Dion version of any song, least of all "River Deep Mountain High".


Mike T.

if the singer wants to do whiter shade of pale...make sure the singer is the keyboard player and they'll never stuff with it'


I know as I just added it to the new band I'm in ...I sing it in the band, I play it and they certainly are not going to stuff with it.

its sung in my "singing" key and played in my "playing" key which I thankfully can say is C

so all is good.....

...I'm not a stranger to bending this rule either... But I try to avoid songs that make me nauseus. Sometimes I'm wrong, though - we recently rehearsed UB40's "Red Red Wine", and it made me absolutely sick to my stomach, but at the gig I kind of started liking it since it really worked with the audience. Now, I almost look forward to it.

We recently ran into this sort of tramping on sacred ground with the Zombies' "Time of the Season."
Singer wanted to sub the second organ solo for a guitar solo. I said no. Very simple. Some things aren't negotiable.

I think that we as musicians honor these performances more than the typical audience member, because these parts meant something to us when we were growing up and learning our instruments. The audience is very accepting, for the most part, unless it looks as thought you CAN'T play it 'right'. I play an acoustic guitar version of Little Wing, Axis:Bold as Love, Strawberry Fields, and Tomorrow Never knows. Tomorrow Never Knows is really out there, as I base it on a riff from Zepelins Misty Mountain Hop. People love it. The Hendrix stuff... drop in a couple of Hendrix signature riffs and chord forms and again, people love it. I don't and don't claim to play them note for note, but people like what I do and I often get credit for being better than I am, just because I don't do exactly what they expect.

And in terms of playing songs that you hate, again the audience is very forgiving and I've found that people will approach you, impressed with the depth of your knowledge of a band, if you play what was a earlier hit, or maybe their second-best known hit. In many cases, the audience is as tired of the SOS as you are.